Chapter 1453: Still Standing on the Infinite Sea

Li Buren's mental projection of the Dao Net seemed to become increasingly clear. Swallowing everything whole in a short period did not cause any indigestion. The insights from the fallen True Immortal, combined with Li Buren's unique body's remarkable endurance, allowed him to almost completely absorb the True Immortal's enlightenment in this place without any adverse effects.

"In this space, only these transparent statues stand. Furthermore, the concept of a 'front' or 'before' no longer exists at the spatial boundaries. There is no path forward, much like a great wall in the star sea."

Li Buren repeated the process, shattering the remaining transparent statues one by one and consuming them. He then intended to break free from the confines of this space once more.

Before traversing and leaving, Li Buren noticed that the eighteen statues here had not truly disappeared. Even though they appeared to be completely consumed, the source of the True Immortal's enlightenment that created the statues still persisted.

"In time, they should be able to restore themselves."

"However, that would take at least tens of thousands of years."

Light vanished, and darkness once again enveloped his vision. By the time Li Buren could see again, he was already in a square-shaped space.

Looking around, in all directions—front, back, left, right, up, and down—were numerous small, cube-like spaces. They seemed within reach, yet also impossibly far away. Most of the cube spaces were utterly silent and dead. The rest flickered erratically between light and dark, appearing extremely strange. Only a very few cube spaces had a stable, faint glow.

Observing everything before him, Li Buren fell into deep thought.

"These cube spaces bear some resemblance to the cages used to imprison True Immortals deep within the Shuo Star Sea Dao Net."

"The reason they appeared as pure darkness when viewed from the outside..."

Li Buren then turned his attention to the areas where light flickered, making a comparison. After a moment, he nodded slightly: "All life has vanished; it's a dead zone. There's no need for further observation."

"And those intermittently lit areas are..."

He reached out, attempting to touch and feel. After a while, even with his self-awareness suppressed to an extremely low level, Li Buren still slightly frowned: "The original observation system has been corrupted. It's displaying an erroneous state. And the culprit behind this observation failure is..."

"The Calamity of Dao Annihilation!"

Li Buren withdrew his hand. Even though he had only touched it from a distance, across the boundary of the cube space, his fingers appeared blackened, resembling strange charcoal. In the blackened area, Dao principles were annihilated; Dao ceased to be Dao.

Li Buren exerted slight pressure, and his blackened fingertips crumbled into dust, drifting upwards and vanishing within the space.

"Merely approaching the Calamity of Dao Annihilation causes the Immortal Domain body to uncontrollably turn into ashes."

"Yet, that square boundary can temporarily and firmly contain the erosion of the Calamity of Dao Annihilation, like a dam."

As he pondered, his severed fingers regenerated. Li Buren stared intently at the boundary of the square space, trying to discern its secrets. But with little success. He then turned his attention to the mere dozen or so areas in this space that emitted a faint glow.

After some observation, Li Buren concluded: "These are star seas with no vibrant life. Their situation is largely similar to the Darkest Star Sea..."

"Furthermore, the True Immortal's seal script left by He Gan Immortal still rages there."

Li Buren carefully examined every single light point. "None of them are the Darkest Star Sea where the Xuanhuang Realm is located. Instead, they are all unfamiliar starscapes..."

Li Buren couldn't help but look down at his own location, or rather, in a small cube identical to the thousands of spaces around it.

"I broke through the great wall and shattered the eighteen True Immortal statues. Only then did I manage to pierce the Veil of Dao and arrive here."

"However, what I see before me is not from the perspective of a 'watcher.' I am still inside a cage."

"So, the star sea where the Xuanhuang Realm is located is merely one of these myriad cube cages..."

As he looked at the countless cubes around him, which should have been simultaneously glowing with life, Li Buren was momentarily lost in thought. However, his self-awareness was faint, so he quickly recovered from the mental shock and began to ponder.

"In that case, the great wall doesn't just seal off a single starscape."

"Rather, all these star seas exist in parallel and side-by-side, unable to perceive each other..."

Suddenly, a scene flashed before Li Buren's eyes: Qian Ruochang finding another Immortal Ascension Platform in the ruins not far from the great wall.

"No wonder there are two ruins of Immortal Ascension Platforms, even though they are not far apart."

"It's because this starscape has already been divided and overlapped, all contained within the great wall!"

"Indeed, these are methods beyond mortal imagination. Even for me, it would take immense effort to destroy all these starscapes, let alone precisely gather them like cubes."

Li Buren was not awestruck by this miraculous scene. Instead, he analyzed it with remarkable calmness.

"Such an immense undertaking, using starscapes as a testing ground."

"...What exactly are they trying to experiment with?"

"And how does one reach the true core area?"

"I am not the first to cross the great wall. Before me, the Xuanxian Boat, the Heavenly Sword Sect, and others have already successfully escaped beyond the wall. How did they escape from this cage?"

"I haven't found any traces left by them."

"Or perhaps, they didn't even come to this space?"

Li Buren looked down at his immortal domain body. "Perhaps it is precisely because of this special body that I entered this area. Different individuals, different methods of crossing, lead to different outcomes..."

Even the Calamity of Dao Annihilation could be temporarily resisted. The square boundaries in this experimental ground were definitely not something Li Buren could break in his current state. He didn't stubbornly persist but instead turned back to where he came from, in the small space where the eighteen statues were located. He began to search carefully once more.

"In the Xuanhuang Realm, when mortals are afflicted with the Immortal-Mortal miasma, cultivators move them into small worlds and grotto-heavens, sealing them with the Immortal Sealing Grand Array. The various trials within the array are impossible for mortals to overcome. Similarly, this experimental ground must ensure the containment of its subjects. It must also do things that are absolutely impossible for the subjects, ensuring that only the architects of this experiment, or rather, the Immortals, can reach the true core."

Although his search yielded no results, Li Buren faintly formed a conjecture.

"The difference between Immortals and mortals is twofold: first, their 'momentum' or 'power'; second, their 'infinity.'"

"As an Immortal Domain body, my momentum inherently meets the requirement. This is why I could easily pierce the Veil of Dao and see the true nature of the experiment. However, without satisfying the 'infinity' aspect, I ultimately cannot enter the core area..."

"The Sea of Infinity."

After figuring out the crucial point, Li Buren wasted no time. He temporarily rushed back from within the great wall. Arriving in the Xuanhuang Realm, he retrieved the Dao Key Tablet, left by the Xuan Tian King long ago and replicated from the Immortal Ascension Platform of the Immortal Realm. And then instantly returned.

"Just one stone tablet isn't enough."

"Accessing the Sea of Infinity requires three conditions."

"The unique immortal spiritual power of a True Immortal, the Immortal Ascension Platform as the access point from the Immortal Realm, and the top-secret seal script mastered by the Immortal Official on duty."

"The tablet was replicated by Xuan Tian King from an Immortal Ascension Platform."

"Qian Ruochang of the Shuo Star Sea impersonated an Immortal Official on duty to trap Wuxian. I have already acquired that True Immortal seal script."

"Now, the only thing missing is immortal spiritual power—unowned immortal spiritual power."

As Li Buren's thoughts churned, his main body in the Xuanhuang Realm had already made preparations. "If Scholar Zhu hadn't been so generous before, this endeavor would likely have faced many more complications."

Not far outside the great wall, where the Profound Coffin of Transience and a group of Immortal Hunters slept. Ma Tiande, who was also sound asleep, suddenly had his fingertip covered by a piece of skin that didn't belong to him. It lasted only for a fleeting moment before vanishing without a trace. However, a wisp of immortal spiritual energy traveled through the invisible Dao Net, traversed space, and arrived upon Li Buren.

Simultaneously, the two Immortals trapped in the Profound Coffin seemed to sense something. The long-silent coffin emitted faint, subtle fluctuations, but these eventually faded away. The two Immortals did not speak again.

Inside the great wall, where the eighteen statues originally stood. The appearance of the immortal spiritual energy seemed to trigger something. The surrounding wall-like boundary rippled like water. What was hidden behind it was about to reveal its true form.

But perhaps because it was only a wisp of immortal spiritual power and not the True Immortal's main body present, a series of continuous ripples failed to completely open it. Li Buren knew he still needed to act himself. Without hesitation, he seized the remaining moment of the immortal spiritual energy's presence and quickly wrote on the Dao Key Tablet. It was as if Qian Ruochang had possessed him earlier. Even the movements and time required for each brushstroke were identical.

Soon, using immortal spiritual power as ink, the mysterious symbol shone brightly on the Dao Key Tablet. Although there were no magnificent rays of light or auspicious beasts appearing, a mysterious power suddenly burst forth from the tablet. To say this power originated from the Dao Key Tablet might be inaccurate, as the tablet merely opened a passage: a path to the Sea of Infinity.

Without warning, his spirit seemed to be sucked into a massive, surging vortex. Every spray of water around him appeared to contain boundless, glittering starscapes. Countless images flashed before his eyes, as if he experienced trillions of years in an instant. This immense volume of information, though only superficially encountered, was still a devastating catastrophe for any being immersed in it.

Fortunately, what accessed the Sea of Infinity this time was a clone puppet with completely suppressed self-awareness fluctuations. If Li Fan's main body had rashly plunged in and undergone this baptism by the Sea of Infinity's droplets, even with the benefit of 'Returning to Truth,' the immense damage to his spirit would have been difficult to mend in a short time.

Qiao Sidao was trapped in a temporal device, experiencing millions of cycles of reincarnation. Yet, everything he experienced combined would not be enough to form a single droplet in this Sea of Infinity.

"My mental projection, attached to the Dao Net, can barely hold on. But it won't last much longer."

"It's completely different from before, when I entered the Sea of Infinity cloaked in a True Immortal's skin!"

"After all, this is only one stone tablet from an Immortal Ascension Platform, not the entire platform. Such raging waves are absolutely unbearable for newly ascended Immortals. It must be missing the corresponding protective components..." The scene of Qian Ruochang using the Immortal Ascension Platform to seal immortals flashed before Li Buren's eyes.

Infected by the light and shadow data of the Sea of Infinity, the miniature Dao Net that Li Buren's divine sense relied upon also became somewhat overwhelmed. As if encountering the Calamity of Dao Annihilation, the periphery of the Dao Net was engulfed by endless waves and ceased to exist. The Dao Net gradually collapsed. The Sea of Infinity was about to engulf him. Yet, Li Buren showed no intention of retreating. He was created to explore the secrets within the great wall. To do so, he first had to connect to the Sea of Infinity and achieve a True Immortal body. To achieve this goal, life and death were irrelevant.

"This scene of the Sea of Infinity devouring the Dao Net..."

"Is actually so similar to the sudden arrival of the Calamity of Dao Annihilation, which swallows everything?"

As Li Buren's consciousness gradually blurred, a sudden question arose in his mind. In an instant of clarity, the power of the Ink-Slaying Immortal Soul from his main body, aided by the Dao Net which now only had a faint flicker of light remaining, arrived belatedly. Once the remaining light of the Dao Net was enveloped by the power of the Ink-Slaying Immortal Soul, the towering waves of the Sea of Infinity suddenly subsided. It was as if it had lost its target. The vortex calmed, transforming into a boundless ocean.

Once again, Li Fan beheld the legendary Sea of Infinity. But this time, it wasn't by means of a True Immortal's skin; instead, he used his own clone puppet to personally cross the vortex and arrive!

On the boundless Sea of Infinity, it seemed a long time since a new True Immortal had visited. It was terrifyingly calm. Only occasionally, vortices would inexplicably appear on the surface of the sea, stirring up a few splashes.

Li Buren, or rather, Li Fan, in the droplets splashed up by these vortices, vaguely saw countless lights and shadows. These were accumulations of time far longer than the trillions of years he had experienced in the vortex before. And these were merely insignificant droplets in the vast ocean.

Li Fan looked around; the Sea of Infinity was boundless. He truly did not know how much history, how many beings, had gathered here. Words could not describe even a fraction of its grandeur, and Li Fan wandered within it, utterly lost in a daze. Individuals, True Immortals, the Nameless, and even mighty beings who transcended possibilities, before such a creation, even they seemed to lose the meaning of their existence.

Time seemed to have fallen still, and his thoughts felt completely frozen. He did not know how much time had passed.

Within Li Fan's main body, a fluctuation from Returning to Truth awakened him. It was an extremely strange emotion. It seemed like surprise. It seemed like nostalgia. There was also sadness. And indignation. A myriad of emotions intertwined, making it difficult for Li Fan to discern whether Returning to Truth was expressing joy, anger, sorrow, or fear.

Meanwhile, the calm of the Sea of Infinity was quietly broken. Beneath the surface, an incredibly terrifying deep-sea beast seemed to be quietly awakening. The entire surface of the sea was stirred up. It began to boil, sending up splashes of waves. The terrifying power generated by colliding droplets even caused the Ink-Slaying Immortal Soul's concealment to gradually fail. It was like a flimsy life vest in a raging storm with towering waves, utterly useless for salvation.

The Dao Net, to which his divine sense was attached, was on the verge of collapse. It was about to completely dissipate.

The next moment...

Li Buren, for some inexplicable reason, was released from the Sea of Infinity. Everything he had witnessed earlier seemed like an illusion.

Except...

Li Buren extended his right hand. Although he did not summon immortal spiritual power, Li Buren knew that if he wished, he could communicate with the Sea of Infinity at any time and unleash endless power.

But he dared not.